A YouTube video was circulating Monday suggesting the suspected Las Vegas shooter had been seen at a protest in Reno, Nevada. There is no evidence the video shows the actual suspect.(Photo: David DeMille/The Spectrum & Daily News)Buy Photo

The death toll was at 58 and still rising with hundreds injured as of Monday morning after a deadly mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas.

As images and video of the shooting began circulating overnight, a series of false articles and other misleading posts began to circulate via social media. They ranged from people posting photos of celebrities and claiming they were victims to posting photos of a popular comedian and identifying him as the killer.

The motives behind the late Sunday-night incident, which has become the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history, are still under investigation, but police confirmed shortly afterward that they believed Stephen Paddock, a Mesquite-area resident, had been the shooter. As of Monday morning, authorities had reported no evidence Paddock was associated with any known terrorist group or part of some larger plot.

An ISIS plot

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, releasing news statements suggesting that Paddock had converted to Islam and carried out the attack "in response to calls to target states of the coalition" fighting ISIS in the Middle East.

However, the statement did not include evidence for Paddock's affiliation, nor identify him by name. A U.S. official told CBS News that there were no signs in the investigation so far to suggest Paddock had ties to ISIS or any other radical religious group.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported to the Associated Press that Paddock had no connection to ISIS and that investigators believed the gunman acted alone.

ISIS has made similar claims after other attacks in both the U.S. and Europe, sometimes providing recorded video statements or other evidence the attackers had pledged allegiance to the group.

Alleged political motives

Several websites spotlighted the political leanings of a man named Geary Danley, a Facebook friend with an account that appeared to belong to Marilou Danley, who police identified as a "person of interest" in their investigation.

One, the site Gateway Pundit, posted an article headlined, "Las Vegas Shooter Reportedly a Democrat who liked Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org and Associated with Anti-Trump Army." The article was later deleted but screenshots were saved by various websites, including BuzzFeed and The Daily Dot.

Another site, Puppet String News, posted a story headlined, "Antifa claims responsibility for Las Vegas attack," referencing the shorthand term for anti-fascists, a broad definition used for leftist extremist groups challenging neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

A YouTube account under the name Steven Haffley posted a video purporting to show Paddock at a political demonstration in Reno, Nevada. Investigators said they had yet to find evidence that Paddock was politically active, and his brother told reporters that he was never aware of Paddock having political leanings.

Several of the unsubstantiated articles made swift progress across social media, with a Gateway Pundit story briefly appearing on Facebook's Crisis Response page and a thread regarding Danley made it onto Google's "Top Stories" widget.

False IDs

While the ISIS claim is unproven, some other information making its way across the internet appeared to be intentionally false.

A number of social media accounts were sharing fake images of supposed suspects, sometimes using photos of celebrities.

One common post involved photos of comedian Sam Hyde, referring to him as a converted terrorist who goes by Samir Al-Hajib or Samir Al-Hajeed.

As reported by BuzzFeed News, photos describing Hyde as the gunman in various mass shootings has become a common meme on Twitter and elsewhere.

A number of accounts were also showing photos of celebrities or of others and suggesting they were potential victims in the shooting.

Reports of coordinated attack

Immediately after the shooting there were reports that it was part of a coordinated terror attack. Wayne Allyn Root, a conservative political commentator with more than 110,000 followers on Twitter, reported that shots were fired at multiple hotels and part of a larger "Muslim terror" plot.

Similar posts trickled out of smaller accounts overnight, with false information about where the shooting happened, how many people were involved and whether it had been confirmed as a coordinated terrorist attack.

Later Monday morning Root posted a link to an article about investigators saying Paddock had no connection to ISIS.